Chapter 16
Leda
I sat outside on the balcony, picking at what remained of my breakfast until the sun was full in the sky, signaling yet another day in Lucas’s possession. When I woke up this morning, I hadn’t expected to see him standing on the balcony—my balcony. For a moment I just watched him, and my heart ached for him, wanting nothing more than to wrap my arms around his lean waist and try to smooth out the tight muscles of his back.
He was under a great deal of strain, but he refused to let me help. He refused to let me do anything at all, and I was tired of it.
Dropping the fork on the plate, I leaned back in the chair, letting the sun hit my face. I had always been the type of person that preferred the outdoors more than anything. Even as a kid, it was I that coerced my brother into tromping around in the woods behind our house on Long Island, searching for small animals or pretending like we were explorers. We built a makeshift fort together with pieces of wood that one of the groundskeepers had been nice enough to help us with.
As I grew older, I had realized that being outside in the sun was good for me. No matter where I traveled, I always made sure I had a balcony so that I could soak up the sun and the scenery any chance I got. I would do exactly what I was doing now, sitting in the sun and just living.
That was what Lucas needed to do. He needed a way to release that pent-up torture that he put on himself before he did something brash, something on impulse.
Because decisions made on impulse never turned out well.
Sighing, I thought back to our conversation, the very one that had made him walk in the end. He needed help. It was clear and apparent. I knew that as a Don, he didn’t want to admit to the fact. Who would? It meant that he was weak and open to being attacked and exploited.
But I knew what he was going through. I knew the story, what he needed, and what he wasn’t going to get.
More importantly, I knew of the consequences if he didn’t allow someone to help him. Lucas would end up dead. I didn’t want to think about it. His death would bring me no closure. In fact, it would probably rip out my soul before it condemned me to a fate even worse than the nightmare I just escaped from.
Why I had to fall for a hard-assed, ruthless Don was beyond me. But the truth was: I had, and there was no turning back.
If only he would let me, or even Nico help.
His admission about Nico being an outcast to the Dons now wasn’t altogether surprising. Nico had done what he had to do to save his family and to finally break free of our father. I couldn’t blame him, and those that found themselves in his position would have done the same thing.
Otherwise, he was looking at going to prison himself, and God knows what would have happened to Rory and their children if he had. My father had some sick, twisted thought about stealing Nico’s child for his own—and if that didn’t work, to impregnate Rory himself if necessary. Nico had no other choice. He couldn’t allow our father to write the way his story would turn out.
So no, Lucas didn’t get the right to judge my brother. As much as I wanted to tell him the extent of it, it wasn’t my story to tell. But I would bet once he heard it, he’d have a whole different outlook on things.
Nico would listen to reason, I told myself. He would see that Lucas had nowhere else to turn, and he would see that I just wanted to help Lucas. If nothing else, Nico would help Lucas for me.
Either that or I would pull the Rory card.
The Rory card—as I liked to call it—was getting my sister-in-law involved. Nico doted on her now, and while their initial time together had been rocky, I knew he would do anything for her. My heart twisted as I thought of them together, the last time I had seen them together at that, and I realized how much I missed them.
***
“Are you sure about this?” I asked Rory as I threw the streamer over the light, changing the color from white to blue. “I mean, my brother is not big on surprises.”
Rory rolled her eyes as she placed the cake on the island, adjusting it with a critical eye. “Trust me. If he doesn’t like surprises, he will learn to love them. Who doesn’t celebrate their birthday anyway?”
I looked away, and she gasped. “Leda! Not you too!”
Fiddling with the tassel on my bracelet, I drew in a breath. “My father never saw the reason to do so until we turned eighteen.”
At eighteen, we had real use. That was enough for us to be worthy of celebration in his eyes.
Rory’s hand landed on my shoulder, and she pulled me into a hug, rubbing my back. “I’m so sorry. You’re right. Maybe this is stupid.”
“No, it’s not,” I replied, hugging her in return. “You are just too good to us both. Nico is so lucky to have you.”
Rory pulled back, giving me a kind smile. “And you are the sister I never had.” We grinned at each other before she pulled away, reaching under the counter and placing a frame on the island. “You know your brother is so hard to buy for. I mean, what do you get a billionaire anyway?”
“Ex-billionaire,” I added dryly. Ever since Nico had broken up the D’Agostino Mafia and partnered with the police, he also had to give up most of the money he earned on account of their illegal nature. He was allowed to keep the penthouse, along with any income made through the fully legit side of the D’Agostino family name.
“What is it?”